Folding bread crate



June 20, 1950 o. B. DENNY FOLDING BREAD CRATE 2 Shanks-Shoot 1 Filed Oct- 22. 1948 IN VEN TOR.

O- B. DENNY ATTORNEY June 20, 1950 o. B. DENNY FOLDING BREAD CRATE Filed Oct. 22, 7194s 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. O. B- DENNY ATTORNEY Patented June 20, 1950 UNITED STATES OFFICE FOLDING BREAI} CRATE Y QrionBrooks Denny, Charlotte, N. (3. Application October 22, 1948-, Serial 56,037

tainedwhereby. if desired, a plurality of collapsed containers may be stacked, without requirement. for large storage space.

One of the major problems of modern bakeries, where literally thousands of fairly large receptacles or containers must be provided for the reception of loaves of bread to be delivered to retail stores, restaurants, and the like, has been the-amount of space required to house such con-- tainers during the hours of baking. These receptacles must be readily at: hand-- and conven ient to the manufactured product, so: thatthey may rapidly'befilled andconveyed to a loading zone where delivery trucks await.

The provision of. the storage space thus re quiredhas long been a troublesome factor as has been the weight of such containers, heretofore generally manufactured from wood or fiber and of a size to accommodatetwelveloaves ofbread of averageelength. and weight.-

This industry has made. efforts toovercome:

these problems through the use of acollapsible paper or. cardboard cartorrchowever, the lifeof such. carton has proven particularly short and the use'thereef has been extremely costly.

It is accordingly awmajor object of the present invention to provide a collapsible receptacle oi the class set forth especially adaptable for use in the baking industry, manufacturedfrom suitablemetal or other sheet material which will beextremelylight in weight, durablein construe-- tion, and economical ofmanufacture.

It isa further object of thevinvention to providea receptacle'ot-the class set forth which may 7 be col-lapsedinto asubstantially completely'flat state andwhich-may-then be stacked and stored" in a minimumeofspace..

It. is a. further object of the present invention to provide a collapsible receptacle the associated elements of which are securely assembled so that constant use with repeateds'collapsing. and opening will. not. result-indisassembly'of parts or appreciable wear and tears It is-stilla, further obj ct of the present in-- R 2 Claims. (01. 220-6) ventionztoxprovide anovelreceptacle of the class-' set forth with pivotal end walls so that merchandisemay lac-inserted or removed from stacked receptacles; without any necessity for disturbing the stacked arangement ther'eofi- Further: objects and. advantages of the inven-- tion willrbe apparent-from the following description; takerr in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig; l a perspective view illustrating" a recepta'cleconstructedinaccordance with the pres-- ent invention;

Fig; 2; is a perspectivev view illustrating their-e ceptacle infiupside-dcwn position to more clear :ly disclose the bottom structure? thereof;

Fig; is: aperspective viewof the receptacle illustrating the? end walls in partially collapsed position;

Fig. 4.- isza: vertical: sectional? view through out and of the; receptacle, illustrating in detail the assemblyof'. the end wall. thereof Fig. 5 is: asectionalview illustrating a plurality of. receptacles stacked or nested incollapsed condition: and:

"' Fig. 6? is a perspective: View illustrating aphi-- rality of set-up receptacles stacked vertically; with: one end; wall of each opened to permit in'-' sertionor removal of merchandise.

As: shown: in the drawing; the improved receptacle comprisesa bottom wall I 0, longitudinal" side Walls H- and l2; and end walls". l3 and-l4; I A continuous reinforcingrodtB, ofcircular cross sectional contour; is attached to" the periphery of the bottcmwalllU-in any: desired manner, a preferred form of assembly comprising turning the edges of the bottom. wall. inwardly to' form beads surrounding said rod; illustratedmore particularly in Fig. 2 of the drawing, the ends of the bottonr wall It! form continuousbeads- [6' while the longitudinal-edgesof the bottom wall" are. provided" with a plurality of cut-away'portionsthus'-forming1- comparativeshort, spacedt beads-H; The bottom'wal-l- "his furtherprovided with a centrallylocated-upstruck'spur I8 adja= centleacht-bead |-6 for a purpose 'to-be":hereinafter" more fully described.

surrounding the longitudinal portions of this frame; in like manner the upper edges of end walls [2 and I3 are also turned outwardly to beads 22 adapted to surround the rod in staggered relationship to the :beads 11 of the bottom wall It]. nection between the side walls of the receptacle, which are pivotally mounted upon the supporting frame l9, and the bottom wall III.

The lower or bottom edges of the end walls l3 and I 4 are adapted to frictionally engage the upper surface of the bottom wall when the re- 5 ceptacle is in set up condition and suitable means There is thus provided a hinged coneffort and with no possibility'of disassociation of parts.

While the invention has been described as especially adapted for use as a bread box, it will be apparent to those skilled in this art that there are in fact no limitations as to the commodities in connection with which the receptacle may be employed.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is shown in the drawings and described in the specification but only as indicated in the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:

v l. A collapsiblereceptacle comprising a bottom wall having a peripheral bead, a reinforcing rod such as the upstruck spurs l8-are' provided for I locking the end walls in position. As indicated more particularly in Fig. 4 of the drawing the lower edge of each bottom wall is adapted to ride over one of the spurs l8 and abutthe end bead IB, being securely retained thereagainst'.

When it is desired to collapse the receptacle the walls 13 and H are grasped manually and swung inwardly, riding over the top of the-spurs l8. The sheet material from which the recep tacle is formed, beingrelatively. light and thin,

has an inherent resiliency, and very little effort is required to swing orpivot the end walls to substantially the horizontal position illustrated in Fig. 3.. The side walls H and 12 are then inclined slightly as indicated by the dotted lines in this figure of the drawings, and the receptacle will then fall into completely collapsed position, the side wall H resting upon the bottom wall I0 while the side wall l2 extends therebeyond.

The end walls l3 and are formed with apertures '23 centrally located adjacent to the beads 2| to provide handholds to permit of ready handling of the receptacle when set up and filled with-merchandise as loaves of bread, indicated at B. a

Preferably the'bottom wall l0 isprovidecLon the underside thereof, with longitudinal runners 24 and transverse runners 25 adapted to protect the receptacle when in use, and to assist in nesting the-containers in stacked collapsed condition. The runners are slightly smaller in'si'ze than the hand-hold apertures and are so positioned, as will be apparent from an examination of Fig. 5, that when the collapsed receptacles are stacked in staggered and alternate relationship, the runners 'will be received within'adjacent apertures 23.

in said bead, longitudinal and transverse supporting runners on the under surface of said bottom wall, a rectangular supporting frame, side and end walls pivotally mounted at their top edges upon said supporting frame, the bottom edges of the side walls being pivotally secured to the reinforcing rod in the peripheral bead of the bottom wall, the lower edges of the end walls being free to permit said end walls to swing upwardly into a horizontal position and in the vertical position adapted to abut the end portions of said peripheral bead, each of said end walls being further provided with a hand-hold aper-- 5 ture, and an upstruck spur on the bottom wall adjacent each end thereof for locking the end vwalls in upright position, one of said runners be- There has-been illustrated in Fig. 6 of the drawing a plurality of receptacles stacked in setup condition with'one end wall of each receptacle in horizontal, open position. The opposlte end wall of each receptacle, being locked in position between the bottom and side walls, insures a ainstinadvertent collapse of the container. With this arrangement it is possible to remove desired items from any receptacle without disturbing the stacked arrangement.

The present invention, which provides for inward"pivotal movement of opposed end walls mounted upon a rigid frame to which the side walls are pivotallv attached, the lower extremities of the side walls'being securely hinged to a bottom wall, permits of a particularly rapid opening or collapsing-of the receptacle with but little inglocated adjacent each of the end and side edges of said bottom wall and spaced therefrom, and said hand-hold apertures being spaced from the top edges of said end walls substantially the same distance as thespacing of said transverse runners and made similar in shape and slightly larger than said transverse runners, whereby said receptacles may be stacked with one end wall of each in horizontal open position to form a shelved rack with the longitudinal runners of certain receptacles engaging'the side walls of the next lower'receptacles and one of the transverse runners Of certain receptacles extending through the hand-hold apertures in the next lower receptacles to prevent lateral shifting of the recep tacles relative to each other.

rod in said bead, longitudinal and transverse supporting runners on the under surface of said bottom wall, a rectangular supporting frame, side and end walls pivotally mounted at their top edges upon said supporting frame, the bottom edges of 'the side walls being pivotally secured to the reinforcing rod in the peripheral bead of the bottom wall, the lower edges of the end walls being free to permit said end walls to swing upwardly into a horizontal position and in the vertical positinon adapted to abut the end portions of said peripheral bead, each of said end walls being further provided with a hand-hold aper ture, and an upstruck spur on the bottom wall adjacent each end' thereof for locking the end walls in upright position, one of said runners bethe top edges of said end walls substantially the same distance as the spacing of said transverse runners and made similar in shape and slightly larger than said'transverse runners whereby said receptacle may be collapsed and stacked with other similar receptacles in alternate staggered relation with the transverse runners of one receptacle nested in the adjacent hand-hold aperture of the next lower receptacle. ORION BROOKS DENNY.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Erikson Aug. 27, 1907 Klenk -1"--- May 18, 1915 Crum Dec. 5, 1916 McLean June 9, 1931 Ulsh Nov. 7, 1933 Gray Apr. 19, 1938 

